Chapter 5 chapter Five

The lives of a few people cannot include the lives of all nationalities, because the relationship between those few people and various nationalities has not yet been discovered.There is a theory that the basis of this relationship is the transfer of the sum total of the will of the masses to historical figures, but this theory is only a hypothesis and has not been confirmed by historical experience. The theory of the transfer of the sum of the will of the masses to some historical figures may explain many things in the field of jurisprudence, and may be necessary for the purposes of jurisprudence; but when applied to history, whenever there is a revolution, a conquest, or Civil War, that is, as soon as the historical period begins, this theory says nothing.

That theory seems irrefutable, because the movement of the will of the people cannot be tested. Whatever the event may be, and whoever may be at the head of it, the theory can always say that so-and-so became the head of the event because the sum of the wills was transferred to him. A man who sees a herd moving, and pays no attention to the different natures of the pastures in different parts of the country, nor to the urgings of the herdsmen, concludes that the herd moves in this direction or that way because the animal leads the way, The man's answer is the same as that theory's answer to the question of history.

"The animal went in that direction because the animal that went ahead led it, so the total will of the other animals was given to the leader of the herd." This is the answer of the first type of historian—those who believe in an unconditional transfer of power. "If the animal leading the herd changes, it is because the animal leads in a direction other than the direction chosen by the herd, and the sum of the will of all the animals is transferred from one leader to another." The sum of the wills is handed over to the historians of the rulers for answers under conditions they consider known. (Using this method of observation, it often happens that the observer, according to the direction he has chosen, regards those who, due to the change of direction of the crowd, are no longer walking in front, but are walking aside, and sometimes even lagging behind. Take the lead.)

"If the animals in front are constantly changing, and the direction of the herd is constantly changing, it is because, in order to reach the given direction, the animals surrender their will to those animals we are looking at. Therefore, in order to study the movement of a herd, We should observe all the remarkable animals that go about the herd." So say the third class of historians who regard all historical figures—from emperors to journalists—as representatives of their time. The theory of the devolution of the will of the masses to a historical figure is but a proxy—just another way of saying the question.

What are the causes of historical events? —is power.What is power?Power is the sum total of wills transferred to a person.Under what conditions is the will of the masses handed over to a single person? — on the condition that that person represents the will of the whole people.That is to say, power is power, that is, power is a word whose meaning we do not understand. If the sphere of human knowledge is limited to abstract thinking, then, after criticizing the scientific interpretation of power, human beings can come to the conclusion that power is only a word and does not exist in reality.However, in order to understand phenomena, apart from abstract thinking, human beings also have a tool for testing the results of thinking—experience, and experience tells us that power is not only a word, but also a phenomenon that actually exists.

Needless to say, the collective activities of people cannot be described without the concept of power, and the existence of power has been confirmed by history and observation of contemporary events. An event happens, there is always a person or persons present, and the event seems to happen by his or their will.Napoleon III issued an order, and the French went to Mexico.The King of Prussia and Bismarck issued an order, and an army entered Bohemia.Napoleon I issued an order, and an army entered Russia.Alexander I issued an order, and the French obeyed the Bourbons.Experience teaches us that, whatever event occurs, that event is always connected with the will or persons which decree the order.

-------- ①In 1864, with the support of the French army, Maximilian won the throne of Mexico. ② Refers to the Austrian-Prussian War in 1866. Historians, following the old custom of acknowledging divine intervention in human affairs, seek the causes of events from the manifestations of the will of empowered individuals; but such conclusions cannot be verified either by reason or by experience. On the one hand, reasoning shows that the expression of a man's will - what he says - is expressed only in an event (such as part of the total activity in a war or a revolution); Incomprehensible supernatural powers—miracles, it cannot be conceived that a few words can be the immediate cause of the movement of millions of people, on the other hand, even if we suppose that a few words can be the cause of events, but history shows that, The manifestations of the will of historical persons have in many cases produced no effect, that is to say, their orders are not only often not carried out, but sometimes the exact opposite of their orders appears.

We cannot use power as a cause of events without assuming divine intervention in human affairs. From an empirical point of view, power is nothing but the relation that exists between the expression of one's will and the dependence of others on the fulfillment of that will. In order to clarify the conditions of this dependence, we must first establish the concept of the expression of the will and admit that it belongs to man, not to God. If God issues a decree expressing his will, as ancient history tells us, then this expression of will has nothing to do with time, nor is it caused by anything, since God is not involved in events.However, if we talk about orders—it is the expression of the will of people who act at a certain time and are related to each other, in order to explain the relationship between orders and events, we should redefine: 1. The conditions for everything to happen: events and the conditions for issuing orders The continuity of man's actions within a given time, and, secondly, the condition of the necessary connection between the man who gives the order and those who carry out his order.